AUSTRALIAN SYNCHROTRON UPDATE -- MARCH 2006
News from the Australian Synchrotron project: PROJECT UPDATE
1. Commissioning Progress
2. Installation Progress
3. Beamline News
4. Users News
5. Relationships with International Facilities
6. Industry News
7. Coming Events
8. More information: Australian Synchrotron contact details
1. COMMISSIONING PROGRESS
On the night of Saturday 11 February, the electron beam was shot into the
booster synchrotron for the very first time. In the early hours of 16
February, the first turn in the booster (i.e. electrons travelling all the
way around the booster ring) was achieved in 434 nanoseconds (billionths of
a second). On the evening of Monday 20 February, the electron beam was shot
into the booster and lasted thousands of turns (laps), without any RF
running. Since then, hundreds of thousands of turns have been achieved.
The injection system (linac to booster) has now been fully tested at 100
MeV. Once the RF accelerating system is commissioned (early March) the team
will be able to start energy ramping studies.
Photographs of milestones in commissioning can be found at
/content.asp?Document_ID=4311
2. INSTALLATION PROGRESS
In the storage ring, 13 of the 14 magnet arc-sectors are installed, 12 of
the 14 arc vacuum chambers and seven out of 14 straight section chambers
are also installed. Two out of 9 front ends have been installed.
Dipole power cabling is complete to 11 of the 14 sectors and interlock
(low-voltage) cabling is under way.
Photographs of milestones in construction can be found at
/content.asp?Document_ID=2465
3. BEAMLINE NEWS
On 24 January, South Australia announced its decision to contribute to the
South Australian beamline funding consortium. Adelaide University Professor
John Carver and the SA synchrotron committee are working hard to complete
the consortium.
BL2, Protein Crystallography/small molecule: Registrations of capability
for construction are being evaluated.
BL4, Small and Wide Angle Scattering: Registrations of capability for
construction are being evaluated.
BL 9, Microspectroscopy: Registrations of capability for construction are
being evaluated.
BL 10, Imaging and Therapy (ITBL): Prof Pekka Suortti, Department of
Physical Sciences, University of Helsinki and European Synchrotron
Radiation Facility, France, worked with members of the Imaging and Therapy
Beamline Advisory Panel during January to develop a finalised conceptual
design of the optics and beam delivery components for the first phase of
the beamline, in particular the use of bent-Laue crystal optics, in which
Prof Suortti is an international expert. Following his visit, the detailed
beamline layout is essentially complete and most beamline components can
now proceed to the design stage. This work is now spearheading the beamline
design and construction effort.
BL 11, Microdiffraction flueorescence probe: A business/science case for
Beamline 11, the Microdiffraction Fluorescence Probe, is being prepared by
Dr Andrea Gerson. Please send Andrea case studies (1-2 paragraphs, with
pictures if possible), even if speculative, to demonstrate the
applicability of BL 11 across both technological and funamental sciences.
BL 11 will have applications to research in the earth, materials,
enviornmental, thin films, metallurgical and biological sciences. Email to
[firstname Andrea].[secondname Gerson]@unisa.ed.au as soon as possible.
Also contact Andrea for a copy of the Preliminary Technical Design Report,
which provides an outline of its capabilities and characteristics.
4. USERS NEWS
DECADAL PLANNING FOR SYNCHROTRON CAPABILITIES
The deadline for input to the 10-year (decadal) planning on future trends
for synchrotron science and associated needs and developments was 28
February. You can lodge last minute responses on-line from the following
page: /content.asp?Document_ID=4293
AUSTRALIAN X-RAY ANALYTICAL ASSOCIATION NATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES
Use of synchrotron radiation to extend the power of laboratory XRD (powder)
and XRF in mining and mineral processing*.
PERTH: Monday 3 April
MELBOURNE: Wed 5 April
SYDNEY: Friday 7 April
BRISBANE: Monday 10 April
Cost: $80 ($60 for AXAA members) (50% discount for students). REGISTER BY
10 MARCH. (Late fee of $20 applies)
Speakers include:
Prof Koen Janssens, Centre for Micro- and Trace Analysis, University of
Antwerp, Belgium (micro-XRF, micro-XAS, micro-XRD, micro-Raman);
Ian Madsen, CSIRO Minerals, Melbourne (lab-based XRD for phase abundance
determination, in-situ phase characterisation and online XRD for process
control; synchrotron and neturon radiation to extend lab-based XRD;
quantitative phase analysis)
Ned Blagojevic - ANSTO; Ian Gentle, Barry Noller - UQ; Rob Hart, Arie v
Riessen - Curtin U; Rob Hough, Chris Ryan - CSIRO Exploration & Mining;
Marjorie Valix - USyd; Andy Wilde - Monash U.
Overview:
X-ray analysts who have access to synchrotron radiation facilities have
discovered the enormous added value provided by synchrotron measurements.
While our laboratory facilities will continue to be the day-to-day
workhorses of x-ray analysis, synchrotron users have discovered that the
technology can give an enormous competitive edge. It seems undeniable that
labs which do not add synchrotron radiation to their armouries will become
increasingly uncompetitive. In short, the world-class x-ray analysis of the
future will have state-of-the-art lab equipment AND access to synchrotron
instruments.
*The 2006 national seminar series will focus on applications in mineral
exploration, mining, processing and downstream product development.
Notwithstanding this emphasis, the seminar will be of broad value to x-ray
analysts in fields such as environmental science, forensic science and
archaeology.
Enquiries: Prof Brian O'Connor, 08-9291 7067; email:
b.o'connor@curtin.edu.au
Registration: Download from
/content.asp?Document_ID=4355
2006 PRIME MINISTER'S PRIZES FOR SCIENCE
Call for nominations: Closing date Friday 19 May. The Department of
Education, Science and Training is seeking nominations for Australia's most
prestigious science awards: Prime Minister's Prize for Science ($300,000),
Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year ($50,000), and
Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year ($50,000). See:
http://www.dest.gov.au/scienceprize, email: pmprize@dest.gov.au, tel:
(02)6240 5066.
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT AWARDS FOR RESEARCH
Call for nominations: Closing date Monday 10 April. The Victorian
Government is seeking nominations for the prestigious Victoria Prize
($50,000 awarded to an individual plus $100,000 to the organisation that
supported their work), and six Victoria Fellowships for early career
Victorian researchers and innovators to travel overseas to undertake
international study missions (starting at $18,000 each). Details at:
www.business.vic.gov.au/vicprize and www.business.vic.gov.au/vicfellows.
PREMIER'S AWARD FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH
Call for nominations: CLOSING DATE TUESDAY 7 MARCH 2006. The Premier’s
Award for Medical Research provides a total of $40,000 in prize money to a
Victorian PhD student or recent PhD graduate who has made an exceptional
contribution to any field of medical research. Details at:
www.business.vic.gov.au/premiersaward.
5. VISITORS
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS
During February we welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (also
Minister for Finance), the Hon. Dr Michael Cullen, who visited the
Australian Synchrotron while in Melbourne to meet the Federal Treasurer.
Other international visitors included Prof Sir David Lane, Executive
Director of the Singapore Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology; a
delegation from US Defense Science and Technology investigating emerging
technologies; and Marc Van den Broek, a senior freelance correspondent for
the Dutch newspaper "de Volkskrant", on a visit sponsored by the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the International Media Visits Program.
INTERSTATE AND LOCAL VIP VISITORS
On 9 February, the Queensland Minister for Small Business, the Hon. Chris
Cummins, visited the Australian Synchrotron.
The Governor of Victoria, HE John Landy, revisited the site to review
progress on installation.
6. INDUSTRY NEWS
The Business Development Managers from a number of councils in melbourne's
south-east visited the Australian Synchrotron in February and discussed
economic opportunities for local business arising from current construction
activities and future operation.
Grants to support industry demonstration projects are available through the
Australian Synchrotron project. Enquiries: telephone 1800 797 818, or
email: contact.us@synchrotron.vic.gov.au. Conditions apply.
7. FORTHCOMING EVENTS
AXAA NATIONAL SEMINAR SERIES 2006 (More details under "4. Users News"
above)
Australian X-ray Analytical Assocaition (AXAA) National Seminar Series
2006. The use of synchrotron radiation to extend the power of laboratory
XRD (powder) and XRF in mining and mineral processing
Perth: Monday 3 April
Melbourne: Wed 5 April
Sydney: Friday 7 April
Brisbane: Monday 10 April
Enquiries: Prof Brian O'Connor, 08-9291 7067; email:
b.o'connor@curtin.edu.au
Registration: Download from
/content.asp?Document_ID=4355
SRMS-5, Chicago, 30 July - 2 August 2006: 5th International Conference on
Synchrotron Radiation in Materials Science. REGISTRATION DEADLINE 15 MARCH
2006. Biennial conference bringing together leading-edge synchrotron x-ray
researchiners in the materials sciences. The goal is to provide an overview
of the latest research developments in a broad range of materials areas,
including biomaterials and polymers, electronic and photonic materials,
engineering materials, nanostructures, surfaces and interfaces, as well as
other topics such as instrumentation and novel techniques. More at
www.aps.anl.gov/SMRS55.html or contact the Australian representative on the
conference advisory committee, Steve Wilkins, CSIRO
(steve.wilkins@csiro.au).
International Workshop on X-ray Microscopy and Spectromicroscopy to be held
in conjunction with the 1st meeting of the International Consortium for
Coherent X-ray Diffractive Imaging (ICCDXI) and a Round Table on
Diffractive X-ray Optics. The events will take place at the International
Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy on 20-22 May 2006.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE 20 MARCH; ABSTRACT DEADLINE 30 MARCH. Relevant
information is available at http://www.elettra.trieste.it/xri2006
SRI-2006, Korea, 28 May - 2 June 2006: The 9th International Conference on
Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation, Daegu, Korea,
http://www.sri2006.org/ . Early Registration Deadline 15 April. The
international SRI conferences are the most comprehensive synchrotron
meetings and are an excellent place to hear both novel experimental and
instrumentation results. Australian synchrotron users are urged to consider
participating.
XAFS-13, Stanford University, California, 9-14 July 2006. 13th
International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure. ABSTRACTS DUE
15 MARCH, http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/xafs13
2007: 9th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation,
13-17 August 2007, Manchester, England. http://www.bsr2007.com
Early Bird registration discount before 31 March 2006.
MORE INFORMATION
A list of Australian Synchrotron Project personnel can be found at
/content.asp?Document_ID=129.
Email: contact.us@synchrotron.vic.gov.au
Telephone: Freecall 1800-797-818 (city office); (03) 8540 4100 (site
office) (International +61-3-8540 4100).